


Dirty Laundry

by ancallis



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F, Growing Up is Hard, maybe she is gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25639402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancallis/pseuds/ancallis
Summary: Even in her dreams she thinks of Ino. What she sees going on in Konoha.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Yamanaka Ino
Kudos: 21





	Dirty Laundry

Just when their lips are about touch, her slight curiosity and attraction peaking at the thought of kissing her best friend, she wakes up sweating and with a headache. Her room is unbearably hot, covers kicked off, shorts and top stripped off in her sleep. Her sheets feel damp and gross, but her little plastic fan next to her offers a slight solace, it’s cheap mechanical whir loud in her small apartment. She pulls the fan closer to her before closing her eyes, visions of Ino floating in the back of her head. She can slide into her daydreams of her so easily it’s like it happened. They’re hanging out, Ino’s room or hers, or at the lake on those park benches, and they’re sitting next to each other. She can feel Ino looking at her and she looks at her quickly, and smile and Ino smiles and they both lean forward and press their lips together so naturally that it’s like they were made for this and it’s over at just the right time and they smile again, holding hands this time, the sun drifting on them and it’s so warm that she would never like to leave this moment of bliss.

And then her alarm screams at her to get up. Sakura slides out of bed, and walks to her bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. Her empty stomach reminds her that she needs to eat, but she chose more sleep instead of breakfast when she set her alarm. Her hair is so short now that she doesn’t even need to brush it. The real difficulty is finding clean clothes to wear. She has skimped out on laundry for the past week, too tired to spend the two hours at the laundromat. Her drawers are running low. She throws on an entirely too old, worn tank top and some training shorts that don’t smell bad. 

It’s another day she has to get through. The cicadas sound the same, her route to training the same, the dry, dry heat the same. Something is coming in the near future, with both Naruto and Sasuke gone, she can feel the tension in the air everywhere. Yet, she’s grown used to it. Attacks on some other village normal, the list of missing persons growing each day run of the mill. She shouldn’t be used to this, but somehow, she is. The horrible injuries she treats everyday numbs her, bone sticking out, her fellow shinobi screaming (what’s worse is when it stops). 

When she walks home, the bars are loud with music and chatter. Ino tends to frequent them with Choji and Shikamaru, often inviting Sakura. This is the one thing she says no to. She’s terrified of not being sober, of what she could say or do while drunk. She’s heard too much sobbing in the alleyways late at night, seen her teacher crumple after a few too much, seen once highly respected shinobi, now a shell of their former selves in the hospital beds getting their stomachs pumped, people driven to poverty from alcohol. She knows the invitation is light-hearted, but her heart is cynical and fearful knowing of the epidemic that plagues the village. She stares in the windows walking past, hoping to catch a glimpse of Ino. 

Her laundry lays in an ever-growing pile in a corner of her tiny apartment. She’s too tired to spend the two hours at the laundromat and instead falls into bed and the same fantasy, long nails tracing up her forearm, blue eyes staring through her soul. The sun is warm on her chill skin and Ino has quite cold hands…

**Author's Note:**

> i always thought that once you reached chunin there's no age restriction for drinking (c'mon, if you're old enough to kill for the state then you're old enough to drink). also sakura with a shaved head....


End file.
